Babul Mehta is Neelay’s father. Originally from the Gujarat state in India, he immigrates to the U.S. with a degree in solid state physics. He then begins working for an early computing company, developing a microchip. A kind and brilliant man, Babul is extremely close with his son, who calls him “Pita.” Babul starts Neelay on his path to technological stardom when he brings home a computer kit for he and the seven-year-old Neelay to construct together. Babul later becomes very sick and moves to a clinic in Minnesota, but Neelay is able to show him the world of Mastery before he dies.
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Babul Mehta/Pita Character Timeline in The Overstory
The timeline below shows where the character Babul Mehta/Pita appears in The Overstory. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Roots—Neelay Mehta
...Ritu (whom he calls Moti) is from the Rajasthan state in India, while his father Babul (whom he calls Pita) is from Gujarat. Ritu is cooking in the kitchen when Babul...
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Neelay is very excited about the box his father is carrying, and Babul reveals that it is a present for both of them: a computer kit. When he...
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Over the next days and weeks, Babul and Neelay build the computer and teach it a few simple commands. Months pass, and...
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...the computing business grows, the Mehta family becomes wealthier and moves to a new neighborhood. Babul fills the garage with a constant wave of new tehnology and gear. Meanwhile, Neelay attends...
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Neelay is still extremely close to his father, and he and Babul delight in their new discoveries and inventions. When Neelay is 11, he plans to make...
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...his life is ruined, how all his family in India will find out, and how Babul will be crushed that Neelay talked back to a white person in a position of...
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Part 2: Trunk
...the darkness. Suddenly Neelay feels like a child again, standing under the tree with his Pita, who reminds him of the banyan fig and all the “code that made this gigantic...
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...looking out over the sea. One, a blue-skinned god, is being played by Neelay’s father Babul, who is 2,000 miles away from his son in real life. Neelay himself is in...
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Neelay reminds Babul of their first computer kit, and how all the trees that now surround them came...
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